Ziina (زينة) is a private fintech company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, founded in 2020. It offers digital payments services for consumers and businesses, including peer-to-peer transfers, payment links, QR and NFC (Tap to Pay) acceptance, and apayment gateway for SMEs. The company holds a Stored Value Facility (SVF) license issued by the Central Bank of the UAE.
January 2020: Founded by Faisal Toukan, Sarah Toukan, Talal Toukan, and Andrew Gold[1][2]
May 2020: App launched, secured $850K pre-seed round led by Class 5 Global[3]
June 2021: Raised $7.5M seed round led by Avenir Growth Capital[4]
March 2022: App Receives Red Dot Design Award, staying true to Ziina's Arabic name, which translates to "a thing of beauty"[5]
August 2022: Introduces "ZiiBoard", a keyboard for generating payment links on social media.[6]
December 2022: Appointed official payment partner for ComicCon Middle East.[7]
May 2023: Introduced its payment gateway, enabling SMEs to accept online card payments via website integrations.[8]
October 2023: Gateway capability expanded to accept up to 10 different currencies and Arabic version of the app added.[9]
August 2024: First venture-backed company in the UAE to become licensed by The Central Bank of the UAE[10][11]
September 2024: Raised US $22 million in Series A funding led by Altos Ventures.[12]
April 2025: Launched Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android, allowing merchants to accept contactless payments via smartphone.[13]
July 2025: Entered partnership with Dubai CommerCity free zone to offer SMEs services such as instant transfers, payment links, NFC Tap to Pay, multi-currency virtual IBANs, and a co‑branded bank card.[14]
October 2025: Partnered with Dubai'sMeydan Freezone to become the payment provider of choice for member businesses.[15]
